The protest comes from a frustrated Simon Rutz who does not control his “star” fighter Badr Hari. Round one and two were for Semmy and round three for Hesdy, so the result 2-1 is correct.

As for the protest, I hope for Hesdy that the unprofessional behavior of his management will not lead to not using Hesdy in a superfight or reserve fight on December 11th. All fighters and coach/managers must sign a form at the rule meeting and can not discredit K-1 (Simon likes to speak about the rules, well… this is also a rule). Simon Rutz has all the right to protest how much he wants, but he should first wait for the result which takes two or three weeks according to K-1 rules.

What is really surprising is that a Dutch newspaper “the telegraph” printed this story on the front page – stating there is e a big chance of Semmy being disqualified? This is speculation, as K-1 never spoke to any media about any protest or result (confirmed by mail) and these lies came by a press conference from Simon. I contacted K-1 and they never talked to any media about this. This was orchestrated by Simon Rutz, who is a promoter himself and has his own agenda. They called the action of Bas Boon sneaky?

If Rutz would have read the K-1 rules, he could have seen that the worst penalty they could have given me for taping Semmy after the first round would be a caution, warning or finally a point deduction or yellow card. However, I did use tape from the organization and an official was present who ask me to stop taping when the second round started, so there is nothing sneaky about that – as Simon claimed in the Dutch telegraph newspaper.

It also proved that we could enjoy another two great rounds and that medical interference was never necessary.

Disqualification is mentioned in the K-1 rules if I would have entered the ring during the fight, which did not happen.

It’s a last attempt of desperate management (if you can call it a management) who sees their “star” fighters not performing or even not see them at all… not to mention how unprofessional this behavior is.

Kharitonov performed very well in only his second K-1 fight and Saki and Alistair did great. Semmy had a hard fight, but deserved the win.

[...] Fight Opinion reached out to Bas Boon, Manager of Semmy Schilt to get their response on the foul that was committed by him, between rounds 1 and 2 where he applied tape to Semmy’s leg. Here’s what he had to say: The protest comes from a frustrated Simon Rutz who does not control his “star” fighter Badr Hari. Round one and two were for Semmy and round three for Hesdy, so the result 2-1 is correct. [...]